Whether you are lactose intolerant or just interested in living a healthier lifestyle, then you’ve likely tried soy milk, and perhaps consume it on a daily basis as an alternative to regular milk. But you may also be wondering if cooking with soy milk is an adequate substitute for whole milk in various recipes.
When cooking with soy milk, you have to be aware of how the sweeter flavor of soy milk will affect different recipes. For some recipes, such as cakes or cookies, the sweetness of soy milk may be beneficial, but in others, it has the potential to ruin the recipe entirely.
Aside from the difference in flavor that can affect a recipe when cooking with soy milk, another important factor to consider is that most brands of soy milk only contain about half the fat of whole milk. Because of this, soy milk is more watery than whole milk. Adding a bit of corn starch to the recipe to compensate will solve this problem. This is especially important when attempting to make recipes that need to set, such as a pie filling or a pudding. In such cases, it is recommended that you use a bit less soy milk and up to a 1/4 cup of corn starch.
Different brands of soy milk may also affect recipes differently. The variety of soy milk available in supermarkets these days all have subtle differences in taste, and sometimes even color. If color is not important to the recipe, then this doesn’t matter, but if you are planning to make a white cream sauce, you can expect it to look more like a beige sauce when finished. It may not look very appealing.
To begin to cook with soy milk, it would be best to start out experimenting small, with various recipes, both savory and sweet. Cooking with soy milk works best in desserts and other recipes that are sweet. You can cook with soy milk in savory recipes as well, as long as the sweetness of the soy milk does not overpower the other savory ingredients. You may need to add a bit extra of the other ingredients in order to compensate.
When cooking with soy milk, you can use the exact same amount as you would whole milk. It will also scorch easily, just as whole milk would, and will curdle in more acidic recipes. It is not recommended that soy milk be frozen, so unfortunately making ice cream with soy milk is not recommended.
A number of recipes that are conducive to cooking with soy milk can be found on the Silk Soymilk website. Recipes include a number of appetizers, breads, desserts, sauces, main courses, soups, and more. Follow these recipes until you are more familiar with how to cook with soy milk.
Once you understand the various differences of cooking with soy milk as a substitute to whole milk, you’ll be able to apply your skills to any number of additional recipes.
